UV-protection property of Eri silk fabric dyed with natural dyes for eco-friendly textiles

Abstract

Eri silk (Samia ricini) is a wild silkmoth which has been promoted and supported to culture for textile industry in Thailand. Especially for the recent decade, textile industry was interested to develop eri silk for casual eco-friendly textile style with functional properties. This research aims to study on UV protection property of eri silk fabric dyed with natural dyes from plant extracts and their washing fastness property. The processes included extracting the colorants from Thai plants i.e. natural indigo, Burma padauk bark, Neem bark, etc., mordanting the eri silk yarn with potassium aluminum sulphate, iron (II) sulfate and dyeing with their natural dyes to increase the washing fastness property. Eri silk fabrics were woven by the dyed eri yarn providing an excellent protection (UPF 50+) with a proper shade for making 3 prototype clothing products. The result shows that UPF property of eri silk fabric dyed with Burma padauk bark, Gloden shower seed, Neem bark, Andaman satinwood leave and mordanted with iron (II) sulfate presented highest UPF (>100) with good washing fastness. Three prototype products were designed with color matching with natural dyes and fabricated which were hat, scarf and dress. The first product, hat, made from the hand-weave fabric comprised of Ne 20/2 eri spun silk yarn as a warp yarn and Ne 20/2 eri spun silk yarn that dyed from Burma padauk bark as weft yarns. Second product was scarf which made from Ne 20/2 eri spun silk yarn as a warp yarn and Ne1.2 eri hand-reel silk yarn dyed from natural indigo and Burma padauk bark as weft yarns. The last product was dress which made from Ne 30/2 eri spun silk yarn that dyed from sappen as a warp yarn and Ne 30/2 eri spun silk yarn that dyed from indigo as weft yarns. These eco-friendly eri silk products exhibited excellent functional UV-protection property.